Dread Central (in this case scribes Heather Wixson and yours truly, Sean D.) hit the red carpet for the Chiller-Eyegore Awards and opening night of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Hollywood, CA, and brought back some ocular candy, including video interviews, from the rather boisterous festivities that you can see below.

Celebrating excellence in the horror genre, the Chiller-Eyegore Awards (which will be broadcast as interstitial programming on Chiller later this October) were hosted by Corey (The Lost Boys) Feldman, and awards were bestowed upon honorees Rob (The Devil’s Rejects, H2) Zombie for ‘Filmmaker of the Year'; Saw series actor Tobin Bell for ‘Best Villain in a Film Series'; actor Noah (Deadgirl) Segan for ‘Best Villain'; Drew Daywalt, the 2009 winner of the event’s short film competition for his flick “Bedfellows” (watch it below); and FX great Rick Baker, who received the ‘Jack Pierce – Lifetime Achievement Award.’

Dread chatted with Baker, who discussed his approach in creating the makeup for Universal’s upcoming The Wolfman redux, as well as with Halloween Horror Nights creative director John Murdy on his approach to the park’s haunted attractions and Halloween. In addition we visited with actress Danielle Harris (who talked up her role of ‘Belle’ in the upcoming horror feature Stake Land), genre vet Bill Moseley (who chatted about portraying Mayor Buckman in Tim Sullivan’s recently locked 2001 Maniacs: Beverly Hellbillys), and screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan and director Kevin Greutert, who discussed what we can expect from their latest Saw film as well as from next year’s Saw VII in 3D.

Inside, drinks flowed and horror clips screened while revelers schmoozed and the press snapped away. An understandably genre-centric crowd, those in attendance included 2001 Maniacs: Beverly Hellbillys filmmaker Tim Sullivan and cast members Lin Shaye, Christa Campbell, Kathryn Le, and Nivek Ogre (from the band Skinny Puppy) as well as The Lost Boys alumnus Jamison Newlander and Saw VI‘s Tanedra Howard, among others.

Following the festivities, this scribe led Sullivan, Moseley and crew through the park’s new maze experiences, which include “Saw: Game Over” (look for myself and actress Carlee Baker fighting off the Pig Man on the maze’s monitors – see our previous item on that here); “My Bloody Valentine: Be Mine 4 Ever”; the fully re-imagined “Terror Tram” backlot studio tour; and my personal fave, the astoundingly nostalgic “Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers” (it’s a complete immersion in the original series and one fans of The Shape shouldn’t miss).

Wanna attend Halloween Horror Nights? The event will continue on consecutive weekends and selected weekday nights through Halloween. For more info and ticket sales click here.

For our photo gallery of the event (thanks to Andrew Kasch as well for several great shots of the Park in full Horror Nights mode), click either of the below images.